One World or None. A report to the public on the full meaning of the atomic bomb/

Description

In 1946, just months after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the scientists who had developed nuclear technology came together to express their concerns and thoughts about the nuclear age they had unleashed. In a concise and urgent book of essays, legends including Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, and Robert Oppenheimer try to help readers understand the magnitude of their scientific breakthrough, fret openly about the implications for world policy, and caution, in the words of Nobel prize-winning chemist Harold C. Urey, that "There is No Defense." With a new introduction by the Pulitzer prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes, One World or None continues to make meticulously clear the imperative need for united international oversight of atomic energy. The original edition of One World or None sold 100.000 copies and was a New York Times bestseller. Today, with the nuclear issue front and center once more, the book is as timely as ever. CONTENTS Preface Richard Rhodes V Introduction Arthur H. Compton xii Foreword: Science and Civilization Niels Bohr XV 1. If the Bomb Gets Out of Hand Philip Morrison 1 2. It’s an Old Story with the Stars Harlow Shapley 16 3. Roots of the Atomic Age Eugene P. Wigner 27 4. The New Power Gale Young 43 5. The New Weapon:The Turn o f the Screw J. R. Oppenheimer 58 6. Air Force in the Atomic Age H. H. Arnold 70 7. There Is No Defense Louis N. Ridenour 90 8. The New Technique of Private War E. U. Condon 107 9. How Close Is the Danger? Frederick Seitz and Hans Bethe 116 10. An Atomic Arms Race and Its Alternatives Irving Langmuir 131 11. How Does It All Add Up? Harold C. Urey 149 12. Can We Avert an Arms Race by an Inspection System? Leo Szilard 167 13. International Control of Atomic Energy Walter Lippman 180 14. The Way Out Albert Einstein 209 15. Survival Is at Stake The Federation of American (Atomic) Scientists 215